BILL NUMBER: SB 1818	CHAPTERED  09/28/00

	CHAPTER   822
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 30, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 24, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 8, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 22, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 23, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 10, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 1, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 13, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Speier
   (Principal coauthor:  Assembly Member Dickerson)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Rainey and Solis)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Bock, Kuehl, Longville,
Machado, and Mazzoni)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to add Title 12.5 (commencing with Section 14250) to Part 4
of, and to repeal Section 14251 of, the Penal Code, relating to DNA.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1818, Speier.  DNA data base.
   Existing law establishes the DNA and Forensic Identification Data
Base and Data Bank and requires the Department of Justice to be
responsible for the management and administration of the data base
and data bank identification program.  The program includes DNA
samples for offenders of specified sex offenses and violent felonies.

   This bill would require the Department of Justice to develop a DNA
data base for all cases involving the report of an unidentified
deceased person or a high-risk missing person, as defined, and to
match and compare samples of recovered unidentified deceased persons
with those of reported missing persons.  The data base would be
comprised of DNA data from genetic markers that are appropriate
solely for human identification but have no capability to predict
biological function.  The department would be required to compare DNA
samples taken from the remains of unidentified deceased persons with
DNA samples taken from the parents or appropriate relatives of
high-risk missing persons, and then to return the evidence to the
local coroner after taking a sample of the remains for DNA analysis.

   The bill would require the responsible investigating law
enforcement agency to inform the parents or other appropriate
relatives that they may give a voluntary sample for DNA testing and
may collect a DNA sample from a personal article of the missing
person if available.  The investigating agency may not wait any
longer than 30 days after a report is made of a missing person under
high-risk circumstances to inform the parents or relatives of their
right to give a sample.  All samples and DNA extracted from a living
person would be required to be destroyed after a positive
identification is made and a report issued.  The bill would make all
DNA samples confidential and would authorize disclosure only to
specified persons for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting
crime.  The bill would impose a $2 fee increase on death certificates
issued by local government agencies or the state to fund the
"Missing Persons DNA Data Base," to remain in effect until January 1,
2006, or until federal funding for the operation of the data base
becomes available before that date.  The bill would provide that the
provisions of the bill relating to funding would remain in effect
only until January 1, 2006, and as of that date would be repealed,
unless a later enacted statute, enacted before January 1, 2006,
deletes or extends that date.  The death certificate fee increase
would begin on and the funds would be directed to the Missing Persons
DNA Data Base Fund beginning on January 1, 2001.  The funding for
the first year would be used to develop the data base and laboratory
infrastructure and the department's protocols and personnel.  The
department would be required to begin case analysis in 2002.  By
increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   Additionally, this bill would make persons who collect, process or
store DNA or samples used for DNA testing, as specified, and who
violate the provisions of the bill relating to disposal or
confidentiality, liable to the DNA donor for civil damages of $5,000
plus attorney's fees and costs.  This bill also would make it a
misdemeanor for a person who collects, processes, or stores DNA or
samples used for DNA testing to violate the disposal and
confidentiality requirements, punishable by imprisonment in a county
jail.  By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
   This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
   With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) That unidentified remains and unsolved missing persons cases
constitute a critical problem for law enforcement and victims'
families in the State of California.
   (b) Hundreds of people, both children and adults, vanish each year
under suspicious circumstances, and their cases remain unsolved.
Meanwhile, coroners retain dozens of remains each year that cannot be
identified.  Families of missing persons must live with no sense of
closure, even though their loved one may have already been found.
   (c) The Legislature finds that new technology can play an
invaluable role in identifying these remains through deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA) analysis.
   (d) In order to identify these remains and bring closure to
missing persons cases, the Legislature enacts the "Missing Persons
DNA Data Base." This data base shall be used to identify remains and
to locate missing persons.  The intention of this data base is to
identify remains to bring closure to the families of missing persons.

  SEC. 2.  Title 12.5 (commencing with Section 14250) is added to
Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:

      TITLE 12.5.  DNA

   14250.  (a) (1) The Department of Justice shall develop a DNA data
base for all cases involving the report of an unidentified deceased
person or a high-risk missing person.
   (2) The data base required in paragraph (1) shall be comprised of
DNA data from genetic markers that are appropriate for human
identification, but have no capability to predict biological
function.  These markers shall be selected by the department and may
change as the technology for DNA typing progresses.  The results of
DNA typing shall be compatible with and uploaded into the CODIS DNA
data base established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The
sole purpose of this data base shall be to identify missing persons
and shall be kept separate from the data base established under
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 295) of Title 9 of Part 1.
   (3) The Department of Justice shall compare DNA samples taken from
the remains of unidentified deceased persons with DNA samples taken
from personal articles belonging to the missing person, or from the
parents or appropriate relatives of high-risk missing persons.
   (4) For the purpose of this data base, "high-risk missing person"
means a person missing as a result of a stranger abduction, a person
missing under suspicious circumstances, a person missing under
unknown circumstances, or where there is reason to assume that the
person is in danger, or deceased, and that person has been missing
more than 30 days, or less than 30 days in the discretion of the
investigating agency.
   (b) The department shall develop standards and guidelines for the
preservation and storage of DNA samples.  Any agency that is required
to collect samples from unidentified remains for DNA testing shall
follow these standards and guidelines.  These guidelines shall
address all scientific methods used for the identification of
remains, including DNA, anthropology, odontology, and fingerprints.
   (c) (1) A coroner shall collect samples for  DNA testing from the
remains of all unidentified persons and shall send those samples to
the Department of Justice for DNA testing and inclusion  in the DNA
data bank.  After the department has taken a sample from the remains
for DNA analysis and analyzed it, the remaining evidence shall be
returned to the appropriate local coroner.
   (2) After a report has been made of a person missing under
high-risk circumstances, the responsible investigating law
enforcement agency shall inform the parents or other appropriate
relatives that they may give a voluntary sample for DNA testing or
may collect a DNA sample from a personal article belonging to the
missing person if available.  The samples shall be taken by the
appropriate law enforcement agency in a manner prescribed by the
Department of Justice.  The responsible investigating law enforcement
agency shall wait no longer than 30 days after a report has been
made to inform the parents or other relatives of their right to give
a sample.
   (3) The Department of Justice shall develop a standard release
form that authorizes a mother, father, or other relative to
voluntarily provide the sample.  The release shall explain that DNA
is to be used only for the purpose of identifying the missing person.
  No incentive or coercion shall be used to compel a parent or
relative to provide a sample.
   (4) The Department of Justice shall develop a model kit that law
enforcement shall use when taking samples from parents and relatives.

   (5) Before submitting the sample to the department for analysis,
law enforcement shall reverify the status of the missing person.
After 30 days has elapsed from the date the report was filed, law
enforcement shall send the sample to the department for DNA testing
and inclusion in the DNA data base, with a copy of the crime report,
and any supplemental information.
   (6) All samples and DNA extracted from a living person shall be
destroyed after a positive identification is made and a report is
issued.
   (d) All DNA samples shall be confidential and shall only be
disclosed to personnel of the Department of Justice, law enforcement
officers, coroners, medical examiners, and district attorneys, except
that a law enforcement officer may notify a victim's family to
disclose whether or not a match has occurred.
   (e) (1) A person who collects, processes, or stores DNA or samples
from a living person used for DNA testing under this section, who
intentionally violates paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) or
subdivision (d) is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment
in a county jail.
   (2) A person who collects, processes, or stores DNA from a living
person or samples from a living person used for DNA testing under
this  section, who intentionally violates paragraph (6) of
subdivision (c) or  subdivision (d) is liable in civil damages to the
donor of the DNA in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for
each violation, plus attorney's fees and costs.
   14251.  (a) The "Missing Persons DNA Data Base" shall be funded by
a two dollar ($2) fee increase on death certificates issued by a
local government agency or by the State of California.  The issuing
agencies may retain up to 5 percent of the funds from the fee
increase for  administrative costs.  This fee increase shall remain
in effect only until January 1, 2006, or when federal funding for
operation of the data base becomes available if it becomes available
before that date.
   (b) Funds shall be directed on a quarterly basis to the "Missing
Persons DNA Data Base Fund," hereby established, to be administered
by the department for establishing and maintaining laboratory
infrastructure, DNA sample storage, DNA analysis, and labor costs for
cases of missing persons and unidentified remains.  Funds may also
be distributed by the department to various counties for the purposes
of pathology and exhumation as the department deems necessary.  The
department may also use those funds to publicize the data base for
the purpose of contacting parents and relatives so that they may
provide a DNA sample for training law enforcement officials about the
data base and DNA sampling and for outreach.
   (c) The department shall create an advisory committee, comprised
of coroners and appropriate law enforcement officials, and interested
stakeholders to prioritize the identification of the backlog of
unidentified remains.  The identification of the backlog may be
outsourced to other laboratories at the department's discretion.
   (d) (1) The death certificate fee increase shall begin and funds
shall be directed to the Missing Persons DNA Data Base Fund beginning
January 1, 2001.  Funding for year one shall be used to develop the
data base and laboratory infrastructure, and to establish Department
of Justice protocols and personnel.
   (2) The Department of Justice shall begin case analysis in 2002.
The Department of Justice shall retain the authority to prioritize
case analysis, giving priority to those cases involving children.
   (3) If federal funding is made available, it shall be used to
assist in the identification of the backlog of high-risk missing
person cases and long-term unidentified remains.
   (4) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2006, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2006, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution for certain
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
because in that regard this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
   However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies
and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.  If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.

